SPOTLIGHT / SATURDAY’S GAMES AT A GLANCE : COWBOYS SEEING RED

Just how easy was Nebraska’s 55-0 victory over Oklahoma State? Consider that John McMillen, the Cornhuskers’ sixth-string quarterback, scored on an 11-yard run with 2:34 left. Nebraska’s Mike Stigge set a school record with an 87-yard punt aided by the wind, breaking the mark of 70 by Dan Wingard set in 1985; and Oklahoma State’s Scott Tyner regularly punted into the wind, having one go only eight yards and another swept by a gust behind the line for a four-yard loss. Nebraska led, 13-0, after one quarter and 34-0 at the half. What kind of come-from-behind offense did the Cowboys go to? They really aired it out, rushing 56 times for 155 yards (a 2.8 average), and tried three passes, none successfully.

THEY DID IT ALL

There was something for everyone in Washington State’s 35-10 victory over Oregon State. The game featured an Oregon State halfback, Chad Paulson, throwing for a touchdown; a Washington State wide receiver, C.J. Davis, throwing for a score; a successful on-side kick, two botched punts and six missed field-goal attempts, four by Oregon State.

DEFENSE

USC did more than it had planned in the 32-10 victory over Oregon. The Trojans sacked Oregon quarterback Danny O’Neil 13 times and held the Ducks to minus 10 yards rushing. Said outside linebacker Willie McGinest, who had three sacks: “Our goal was to get five sacks, and I guess we did that.” Curtis Conway added a school-record 96-yard punt return for a touchdown. The previous longest by a Trojan was 93 yards by Ernie Merk in 1955 at Minnesota.

Illinois forced Ohio State into turnovers on the Illini four- and one-yard lines to beat the Buckeyes for the fifth consecutive time. On the Buckeyes’ first possession, after driving to the four, Jeff Arneson returned a fumble 96 yards for an Illini touchdown, the longest fumble recovery in Big Ten history, breaking the previous conference mark of 92 yards by Indiana’s Dale Keneipp in 1978.

Kansas held Kansas State to 69 yards in a 31-7 victory. Kansas didn’t allow Kansas State a first down until 10:41 was left in the third quarter.

Minnesota’s Marquel Fleetwood, the nation’s total offense leader, was intercepted four times and lost a fumble in Purdue’s 24-20 victory.

Syracuse’s defense dominated an opponent for the second consecutive week. The Orangemen, who defeated Louisville, 15-9, a week ago, had four sacks and blocked a punt and a field-goal attempt in a 50-28 victory over Rutgers. Rutgers, which had yielded only eight sacks in five games, had not had a kick blocked this season.

Auburn felt snubbed by pollsters who ignored them after their victory over Vanderbilt last week, their fourth in a row. “It offended me,” said linebacker James Willis. “I felt like after the last win, we would be in the top 25. I guess we’ve got more to prove.” Mississippi State put an end to that sentiment Saturday, intercepting three passes and recovering two Tiger fumbles in a 14-7 victory.

STREAKS

Miami has won 23 in a row, the longest streak in the nation, and ended Penn State’s 11-game winning streak. The Nittany Lions had won 14 in a row at home. . . . Washington beat California, 35-16, for its 19th consecutive victory and 12th in a row over the Golden Bears. . . . Alabama’s winning streak reached 16 with a 37-0 victory over Tulane. . . . Dartmouth ended a 14-game losing streak to Holy Cross, 48-0. . . . Indiana beat Northwestern, 28-3, for its eighth victory in a row over the Wildcats. . . . Texas El Paso, which lost to Colorado State, 42-24, has lost seven games in a row. . . . Florida, which beat Louisiana State, 28-21, is 15-0 at home under Coach Steve Spurrier.

NOTEWORTHY

Syracuse quarterback Marvin Graves completed 18 of 28 passes for 425 yards in a 50-28 victory over Rutgers, breaking the school record for passing yardage. The record of 336 was set by Don McPherson in 1987 against Penn State. With 51 rushing yards, Graves’ total offense of 476 yards broke the record of 384 by Bill Hurley against Penn State in 1977.

Phil Brown’s 13-yard touchdown run in Texas’ 34-24 victory over Oklahoma was the first rushing touchdown the Longhorns have had against the Sooners since 1983.

Rick Mirer, with 33 touchdown passes, broke Joe Theisman’s career record at Notre Dame by two in the 52-21 victory over Pittsburgh. Craig Hentrich’s seven extra points and 25-yard field goal gave him 256 points, breaking the Notre Dame record of 247 by Dave Reeves.

Greg Primus caught seven passes for 118 yards and three touchdowns in Colorado State’s 42-24 victory over Texas El Paso. Primus became the school’s all-time leader in receiving yardage; his 2,876 yards eclipsed the former record of 2,811 by Jeff Champine from 1980-83.

Coach Keith Piper won his 200th game, all at Division III Denison in Granville, Ohio, on his 71st birthday when the Big Red defeated Earlham, 29-24. Piper, who continues to run the single-wing offense, is 200-139-17 in 39 seasons.

BLACK SATURDAY

It wasn’t a good day for five major college teams, which lost their first games in a variety of ways:

--Arkansas rallied from an eight-point deficit against No. 4 Tennessee (5-1) in the final three minutes with a 71-yard punt return, a recovered on-side kick and a 41-yard field goal with two seconds left to win, 25-24.

--An interception return for a touchdown was the difference in Miami’s 17-14 victory over No. 7 Penn State (5-1).

--Clemson came back from a 28-0 first-half deficit to give No. 10 Virginia (5-1) its first defeat, 29-28.

--Kansas State (3-1), held to minus 56 yards rushing, was brought back to reality with a 31-7 loss to Kansas.

--Utah got 478 yards and capitalized on three turnovers to hand Hawaii (3-1) its first loss, 38-17. Only six major colleges are still unbeaten and untied.

SWEET REVENGE

Clemson tailback Rodney Blunt couldn’t wait to play Virginia. Blunt remembers the 1990 game, which Virginia won, 20-7, its first victory over the Tigers in the 30 times they had played. “I was there when they tore down the goal posts,” he said. “The fans were acting like they had won a world war or something. . . . I just want to show the fans it’s pay-back time.” Blunt scored on a 53-yard run in the Tigers’ victory.

GIVE ‘EM THE BOOT

One of these days, someone is going to make a big field goal against Miami. Two weeks ago, Arizona’s Steve McLaughlin was wide right on a 51-yard attempt that would have given the Wildcats a 10-8 victory. Last week, Florida State’s Dan Mowrey missed three kicks, including one from 39 yards on a last-second chance to tie the Hurricanes. That, of course, was a vivid reminder of last season’s missed 34-yarder that would have given the Seminoles a victory. And Saturday, Penn State’s Craig Fayak had a 48-yard attempt blocked on the Nittany Lions’ first possession and then hooked a 20-yarder to the left at the end of their second possession, a 60-yard drive for naught. Miami won, 17-14.

HE’S GOT THE YIPS

Florida State’s Mowrey must be a more confident golfer than he is a kicker. He missed two extra-point attempts in the Seminoles’ 36-13 victory over North Carolina. “The first half was just a nightmare,” Mowrey said. “An extra point is a given. It’s like a three-foot putt.” Three-footer a given? Tell that to Sam Snead, who near the end of his competitive career might have more easily kicked a 50-yard field goal into the wind than drop an important short putt. Snead coined a word for those knee-knockers, which has become part of the golfers’ vocabulary: the yips .

IN QUOTES

Arkansas quarterback Barry Lunney Jr., on Tracy Caldwell’s catch that helped set up a winning field goal against Tennessee: “He made a great catch, I think. I don’t know. I couldn’t really see. I was on my butt.”

Auburn Coach Pat Dye, after a 14-7 loss to Mississippi State: “It’s the worst job that I have done in preparation in handling and managing a football game . . . since I have been at Auburn . And I apologize to our fans.”

Georgia Coach Ray Goff, after a 34-7 victory over Division I-AA Georgia Southern in which the Bulldogs fell behind early: “Personally, I have no desire to ever play them again. We have nothing in the world to gain. I think I’ll let (Georgia) Tech play them next.’ ‘

Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden, after an inconsistent, 36-13 victory over North Carolina: “We had chances for big plays and wouldn’t make them . The kids didn’t want any of those big plays. They wanted those little plays.”

Rutgers Coach Doug Graber, after a 50-28 loss to Syracuse in which several short passes turned into big gains: “It was an awful performance, just embarrassing. . . . It wasn’t ever anything we didn’t expect. It was just poor execution on our part.”

Texas Tech Coach Spike Dykes, after a 48-13 loss to North Carolina State: “They picked our defense apart and they made a lot of plays offensively. It was just an old country tail-kicking.”